There is no question that you are familiar with your dog’s whiskers, which are the coarse hairs that grow around the dog’s nose and eyebrows. When your dog is showing emotion or has a desire for something, these may stand out. In addition to helping dogs with other key sensory processes, they provide assistance in orienting and navigating the environment.
What are Whiskers?
Whiskers are sometimes known as sinus hairs, tactile hairs, or vibrassae. They look different, have a different thickness and stiffness, and are connected to the body and brain in a different way than the fur on your dog. The only places on a dog’s body where whiskers may be found are above the eyes, around the nose, below the chin, and on the cheeks. Dogs would develop whiskers on their cheeks and noses so that they could get more sensory input given that they use these regions to obtain information.
Your dog’s whiskers are sensitive to the slightest touch and transmit that information to its brain, while the hair on its body serves to protect the skin and maintain a normal body temperature. These sensitive hairs enable a dog to perceive even the slightest air movement around its head, which enables the dog to more accurately judge the size, shape, and distance of items in its immediate environment.
Anatomy
The structure of the whiskers enables them to perform their sensory role. While the hair on your dog is grown from hair follicles, which are little pockets of cells and connective tissue in the skin, whiskers have bigger hair follicles that contain more nerves and blood. It is nourished by the blood sinuses (hence the name sinus hairs). Whiskers are able to transmit even the most minute changes in touch or pressure to the blood sinus, which then relays that information to the brain through sensory neurons.
The movement of the whisker muscles may also be somewhat variable. Your dog’s back hair may stand on end when he or she is startled. An involuntary reaction is produced by smooth muscle movements under the skin, similar to the sensation of goosebumps. The striated muscles that control voluntary movement are related to whiskers. Whiskers on dogs have the ability to extend and retract.
In the embryos of dogs, whiskers develop before any other kind of hair. Because they are blind for the first ten days of their lives, newborn puppies rely on their whiskers to locate their mothers and nipples so that they may nurse.
Why?
The following are some of the significant things that may be accomplished using a dog’s whiskers:
- Navigating in the dark
- Navigating confined spaces
- Distinguishing close-up objects when vision is less reliable
- Finding food and water
- Identifying environmental hazards
- Wind direction for smelling
- Picking objects with mouth
- Whiskers stimulate reflexes like blinking to protect the eyes and face.
- Whiskers alert dogs to sharp sticks and branches near the face, preventing harm.
- Whiskers help blind canines and elders traverse their homes safely.
Risks of Removing Dog Whiskers
Whiskers are essential to a dog’s ability to avoid danger and stay safe. It has been observed that whiskerless and blind dogs have a tendency to run into walls and corners. Whiskers are important sensory organs in dogs and should never be removed unless it is absolutely essential for medical care, such as in the case of a cut or an abscess.
Even though the whiskers themselves do not contain nerves, dogs nonetheless feel pain when their whiskers are trimmed or shaved. Dogs who have had their whiskers cut have difficulty gathering balls and will drop them immediately after picking them up, which may be an indication that the dogs are in discomfort.
In the event that the skin follicle is not damaged, the whisker will eventually grow back.
Never trim a dog’s whiskers since this inhibits the animal’s ability to feel its surroundings. The next time you watch your dog sniffing about or investigating, you’ll have a better appreciation for his extraordinary senses and how they provide him with an accurate picture of the environment.